Volkswagen Vento : Test Drive & Review

This is a discussion on Volkswagen Vento : Test Drive & Review within Official New Car Reviews, part of the Team-BHP Reviews category; Originally Posted by evilshantanu
His advice: instead of going with the Yokohama A-Drives, I should go with the Michelin Primact ...

His advice: instead of going with the Yokohama A-Drives, I should go with the Michelin Primact LC (Michelin PLC), size 195/65 R15 the stock tyre size of the Vento tyres is 185/60 R15

Benefits: as per him, the sidewalls for this particular product is much better than the earlier Michelin tyres, which are known for soft side walls, he repeatedly kept insisting to go for Michelin instead of the Yoko A-Drives, I am still doing some research on the internet, called up a couple of other car tyre dealers, they also seems to be in favor of Michelin PLC. Plus I called up my one of my friends in Lucknow, who is into the tyre business, he too recommends this.

Damages: Rs 5,862/- per tyre and then Rs 350 + 120 for wheel alignment and balancing.

What does the Tyre punters and gurus have to say on this? would love to have their opinions as well.

I changed all my tyres to Yoko C drives and have driven around 12,000 kms on them . The biggest drawback is that they have absolutely crappy sidewall strength , UNFIT for our potholed roads . I don't think A drives would be any better ( IMO a C drive or a S drive makes much better sense than A drive if you have fascination for Yokos) . The result of the these soft sidewalls is that one of my Yokos got shot ( through and through!) when it hit a pothole (with 4 adults and reasonable luggage) , while another has a small bulge and will be changed shortly . I am furious with the side wall strength of Yokos even though they are top notch as far as grip, braking , ride comfort and low noise ( at least C drive) are concerned. When one of the Yokos got shot , I changed to Michelin Primacy and till now they are fine .
Bala and a couple of others have had a good experience with Bridgestone Turanza , I think you should bring it into the mix definitely. It has good grip, performance - maybe not as quiet as C drives but sufficiently quiet . Given the potholes in our road , we cannot neglect tyre wall strength !

I changed all my tyres to Yoko C drives and have driven around 12,000 kms on them . The biggest drawback is that they have !

Thanks for the prompt reply. I checked with one of my co-workers, he is using Michelin PLC and is pretty frustrated with the sidewall strengths, and he upgraded to Yokohama A-Drives. Now I am not too much in favor of Michelin..... Will check out Bridgestone Turanza as well. Thanks!

After a lot of phone calls and recos. I have decided. Yokohama A-Drive it is.
I checked about Bridgestone Turenza, actually it is the same tyre which used to come as stock tyres for Toyota Qualis. people say that its pretty hard.....

After a lot of phone calls and recos. I have decided. Yokohama A-Drive it is.
I checked about Bridgestone Turenza, actually it is the same tyre which used to come as s.tock tyres for Toyota Qualis. people say that its pretty hard.....

I have been using PLC's (195/65/R15) on my Vento since I purchased the car, and have been running them for +11K km in 4 months. I must say I am very happy with their behavior on my daily drive. They are quite compliant and very well-behaved vis a vis road grip both wet and dry, and stopping ability leaves very little to be desired. No fuss at all.

They do not feel at all delicate. Indeed, I would go so far as to say they are very nearly ideal for our general road conditions.

But I do find the queries on the matter of tires and clutch out here quite interesting. Considering I'm pretty much fine on both matters w.r.t my car. Do note, I find the Apollos quite noisy (as of now) and quite stiff. However I am yet to experience a Vento with non-stock tires that feels "better" or one with a smoother clutch. Have tried the same on @mikon's Mamba (with Continental shoes), apart from the generic feeling that the grass is greener on the other side; or in automobile terms - your car feels better than mine (we both experienced it with each other's cars), I really couldn't experience any major difference.

After a lot of phone calls and recos. I have decided. Yokohama A-Drive it is.
I checked about Bridgestone Turenza, actually it is the same tyre which used to come as stock tyres for Toyota Qualis. people say that its pretty hard.....

I'm using Michelin plc from day one on my Vento and have no issues till date. They are quiet on road and have taken some very bad potholes with minimum fuss. 20k of trouble free ride so far (touchwood )and still as good as new.
BTW, I went for this based on tyre empire's recommendation.

I'm using Michelin plc from day one on my Vento and have no issues till date. They are quiet on road and have taken some very bad potholes with minimum fuss. 20k of trouble free ride so far (touchwood )and still as good as new.
BTW, I went for this based on tyre empire's recommendation.

Day one user here too (47 km on ODO when I got them, fresh after taking delivery of the car and showing it off to the parents).

In fact, I had my heart set on S-Drives (205/55/R15), but NBT Chackai TVM did not have a full set of those, so I decided to go with the PLC's based on 4 year's experience of XM1+'s on my Swift.

Absolutely no regrets, and I will purchase PLC's again for my next change.

His advice: instead of going with the Yokohama A-Drives, I should go with the Michelin Primact LC (Michelin PLC), size 195/65 R15 the stock tyre size of the Vento tyres is 185/60 R15

Quote:

Originally Posted by noopster

That's about 2.1% error in speedo reading. You will gain ~13mm in overall diameter, which seems fine.

This is almost +5.22% error. This basically means that if you are doing 100kmph, you are actually going at 105kmph. This would also mean that if your odo meter shows 10000 km you have actually covered 10522 kms.
Just be aware of these.
205/55 R15 seems to be a better fit.

What was the total damage? Did insurance cover it all. Pardon me if you have already answered it.

In the fourth picture, on closer look coolant levels are below minimum. Have it topped up with G12 from VW Workshop, ASAP.

The damages were under 5 k approx with labour and hence did not go for claim. Morever i needed the car back in one day. Secondly i had already claimed for bumper damge along with bulk head damage earlier in the 2 nd year term.

On the coolant- Must say you are very observant.... Hats off to you...
I had taken the car for servicing as the coolant level had gone down drastically. They topped up the coolant and claimed that they kept the vehicle runnning for 30 mins and they did not see any drop in coolant level. Now its not been a week also and the coolant level has gone down. Will be taking it again this weekend to VW Service Thane.

Quote:

Originally Posted by samarjitdhar

Wow, looks like the car took some big craters badly hence the damage. The plastic build of the bulk head can be attributed to cost cutting measures as well as weight reducing measures. Pick your poison .

Does the old disc have some undulations when you feel it? The deep gash does make it qualify for a replacement. My SA told me that I won't face any issues with the undulations as of now. The braking is still as good as before.

It was not a big hit i was driving dead slow the plastic cover below the bumper got stuck and it got ripped open . Resulting in breakage of the bulk head. The german quality fitting between the bumper cover and the bulk head must have been very stong . Guess that fitting did not break but the bulk head broke

The Staff at VW Service also agree that the bulk head is not of good quality and is often getting broken...

On the brake disc trust me i am very particular of having the breaks upto speed especially on long drives. I keep checking through gradual braking if there is any loss in braking. Never thought in my wildest dreams that the damage is so much. The braking was quite good i must say. could be coz of the extra grip.

If you notice undulations please replace - My SA also advised me the same when i had replaced my front brake pads at 32 k kms approx. And that is why after 10 k with new brake pads i had to replace both the pads and the disk. The brake disc quality sucks... I never had to replace the discs in my 1.05 lakh kms run that i did on my swift. brake pad replacement was done thrice... German Build quality ??????? - I have my apprehensions now.... Lets see what happens with the coolant issues.

If you notice undulations please replace - My SA also advised me the same when i had replaced my front brake pads at 32 k kms approx. And that is why after 10 k with new brake pads i had to replace both the pads and the disk. The brake disc quality sucks... I never had to replace the discs in my 1.05 lakh kms run that i did on my swift. brake pad replacement was done thrice... German Build quality ??????? - I have my apprehensions now.... Lets see what happens with the coolant issues.

I had pointed this out to my SA during my last visit and he said that if the braking performance is not affected in any way I need not replace. I didn't push it further, obviously VW would like to save money on replacements. The brakes work just as good like brand new apart from the few undulations. I will check with my SA again during my first service coming up in about 2/3 weeks.

This is almost +5.22% error. This basically means that if you are doing 100kmph, you are actually going at 105kmph. This would also mean that if your odo meter shows 10000 km you have actually covered 10522 kms.
Just be aware of these.
205/55 R15 seems to be a better fit.

Correct! going back to 195/60 R15 Yokohama A-Drives!

Quote:

Originally Posted by noopster

Shantanu- I had recommended 195/60R15 or 205/55R15 when you called me. Why did you opt for the higher profile?

5% is pretty high- upto2.5% is within acceptable limits as per most online tyre calculators like this one.

Thanks for the link!
got the tyres changed back to 195/60 R15 Last night, it was pretty late by the time they were fitted, so didnt drive much, but whatever 4-5 KM i drove back home, boy! the braking and handling has improved by leaps and bounds!

Thanks for all the info and support in buying new shoes for the Shadowfax.
Specially noops, whom I bugged on a Monday morning. Sorry for that noops!